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Dec 16, 2009

Christopher rated it:

What a disappointment. This book should have written itself: who can't write a good book about assholes? The world is full of them, and Sutton's biggest problem should have been trying to sift through an inexhaustable supply of good stuff and funny bits. Instead we get a boring, humorless collection of basic psychology principles, statistics, and common sense. Entire pages are devoted to mindless recitations of research findings and statistics. The anecdotes are boring and focus around a very sh More...

2 comments like (8 people liked it)

Jul 01, 2007

Dave rated it:

I bought this because I thought I worked with assholes. (Well -- that, and a few others had enjoyed reading it.) I discovered that I work with garden-variety assholes, not certified ("flaming") assholes -- though I have in the past. Note that the author is an academic and wanted to enfore the "no asshole" rule in his own department. This doesn't just apply to corporate settings.

The real revelation he gives is what he calls "total cost of asshole ownership More...

0 comments like (4 people liked it)

Feb 19, 2009

Putu rated it:

Buku ini gwe beli sebagai referensi terhadap keadaan gw pada waktu itu. Ternyata ada beberapa perusahaan yg menolak adanya asshole di dalam perusahaan mereka. Emang sih -dalam buku disebutkan- kalau orang asshole itu justru adalah orang-orang yang top performance...they have great egos and know how to please the bosses. Huhu, dan gwe baru sadar ternyata buku ini telah berpindah tangan jadi milik bos EkA. Ya ngga apa2 lah...buat kenang2n deh Pak E!!

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Nov 30, 2011

PatriziaBi rated it:

Come si può intuire dal titolo, il libro si propone di suggerire comportamenti da seguire quando sul posto di lavoro si abbia a che fare con un certo “tipo di persone”. Queste persone vengono etichettate come “stronzi” e sono le responsabili di diversi misfatti, perpetrati quotidianamente ai loro sottoposti come, ad esempio, insulti personali, minacce, intimidazioni, occhiatacce etc.
Chi non ha una grossa esperienza lavorativa, o ha da sempre lavorato in proprio, avrà modo di conoscere una r More...

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Feb 21, 2010

Abhishek rated it:

The book is a good read for anyone who is working in a corporate environment and feels being threatened aor harassed at times.The book clearly demarcates the boundaries between a temoporary and a certified asshole. The only thing different thing about this book from others on similar subject is that the author,a Stanford professor uses the slightly objectionable world so freely in the book.
Though the "asshole" word might be already used in the closed cubicles of the office even More...

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Jul 24, 2009

Ed rated it:

An essential book for anyone who ever works in any organization. In some ways it is the book of the TV Series The Office. It has a tonic after so many bullshit books about management passion and leadership, which give a deluded sense that organizations are villain and toxin free and that vanilla slogans work. Indeed the author refreshingly praises indifference as a protective tactic when faced with a swarm of assholes and you can't afford to leave.

The book defines assholes as 1)anyo More...

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Jul 14, 2009

getAbstract rated it:

Strategic take on dealing with jerks

Robert I. Sutton, Ph.D., professor of organizational behavior, teaches management science at Stanford University. He is a learned, respected academic. Is it odd that such an erudite, sophisticated individual would write a book with the word “asshole” in its title? Not according to Sutton. Yes, mean-spirited, nasty people are weasels, jerks and dirty rats. But the word that ideally summarizes such a person, Sutton says, is in his title, so that’s w More...

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Jan 06, 2012

Bubbles rated it:

This book certainly provided some amusing stories about the harrasment people face every day in the work place, most of which made me realize how lucky I had it. As far as the book's value into helping people with assholes, it really is not that useful. The author's advice is to think happy thoughts, try to remain a positive outlook while expecting the worst, or better yet, to just find another job. Advice that practically anyone could have handed out.

The most useful part of this More...

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Sep 19, 2010

Steven rated it:

There are a lot of assholes out there. I've run into a few more than my fair share - it seems to be par for the course when you're a contract programmer. Assholes make people feel oppressed, humiliated, de-energised and belittled. They tend to target their behaviour on those that are less powerful - so assholes in management have a larger area of destruction.

These assholes can poison your whole organisation, leading to a culture of fear, lower productivity, high staff turnover, gener More...

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Dec 16, 2009

Jason rated it:

From this book, I learned how to identify a**hole behavior in others and in myself. Sutton's book is a remarkable and frank exploration of how a**hole behavior can destroy organization, and a reminder that such behavior should not be tolerated anywhere. Sutton's blog, [http://bobsutton.typepad.com], should be a must-read for everyone who works in any organization.

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Nov 05, 2010

Emilia rated it:

Not Shakespeare, not revolutionary, but nice to have it written down.
A-holes as defined by Sutton are people who 1) consistently belittle and insult coworkers and 2) treat their superiors markedly better than those lower on the totem than them. And yeah, lots of people are like this, and lots of people strive to be like this, and the American Dream demands this, so um, it was refreshing to be reminded that workplaces actually work better when people are nice. And that if you are in a crapp More...

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Mar 09, 2011

John rated it:

It turned out to be a “this is nothing new” book. I feel like I could have written his content: the world is full of them, your company has them...you need to: identify them, avoid interacting with them, avoid hiring any, try to get rid of them, and be vigilant not to become one. Sounds like common sense to me. All this book did was serve as a reminder to avoid becoming one at all costs, and it can be easy to act like one if you are surrounded by them. What it didn’t do for me was provide re More...

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Sep 03, 2009

Sheree rated it:

It was hard to pass over the "A...." word in this book but I was glad it wasn't as frequent as the title implies. The material is very good and helpful to me in my job. This book was recommended to me by a coworker due to some issues I'm dealing with in my department. The book provided excellent insight. I think every manager should read this book or anyone that has anger management issues. It would also be helpful to anyone that works with bullies.

From this book I realized More...

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Sep 09, 2010

John rated it:

I had high expectations for this book from reading the blog posts and the HBR posts. I found it interesting but at the same time shocking that people worked in environments like that. I work in an OK environment, I just find that if you are being physically abused you should be going to HR and no where in this book did it ever mention that. I assume people understand that or know that, but it should have still been called out with helpful ways to ensure action is taken on your behalf. I have More...

1 comment like

Mar 22, 2010

Amanda rated it:

I was really looking foward to this book, but I found that most of it was just common sense and so basically I just skimmed through most of it and just read what I thought looked interesting. I guess I was looking for more advice/strategies dealing with a**holes and maybe I thought there was some unknown solution to getting rid of them! But there isn't and the advice in the book is just common sense stuff which I am already doing. I felt like most of the book was the author just talking about h More...

0 comments like

Aug 02, 2009

Wanrong rated it:

A bunch of reasons to read this book. First, Bob Sutton was one of my college professors and is terribly funny. Second, we have all had to deal with assholes in the workplace (especially those who come down hard on their underlings). Third, there's this clever idea of holding stand-up meetings to raise productivity (essentially people have shorter meetings if they are standing up), which was quoted in another article I read.

Turned out to be a pretty funny, if somewhat self-explanator More...

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Jul 05, 2011

Eric rated it:

I didn’t expect much content from the book from the outset so I wasn’t too disappointed with the hollowness of the book. Some of its stories were lightly amusing. I didn’t learn anything new, really, but it was nice to be reminded of some things I already knew. Overall, the book felt like a hodgepodge of various self development concepts mixed with bits and pieces about assholes and ways of dealing with them.
One of the things I really agreed on is the idea that assholes can bring out the as More...

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May 18, 2011

Stephani added it

Good information on how (or when NOT) to work with assholes. Enjoyed each of the stories. My comment: there are also asshole processes and metrics that companies will institute and be proud of as well. Those processes are just as detrimental to a company's success and the happiness of employees as an actual in-person asshole that you might wind up working with! Instead of being able to shut your door on them, they become your job, taking your attention and efforts away from the real issues at ha More...

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Aug 06, 2008

Michele rated it:

A better title than a book, I commend the author for standing his ground and getting what he wanted on the jacket. I wish I could have commended the editor for getting what he should have out of the writer.

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Dec 26, 2011

Miranda rated it:

A manifesto on workplace creeps that make "targets" feel oppressed, humiliated, de-energized and belittled. The book addresses the reasons for the behavior, how to handle it, and how to stop the spread of asshole poison. I thought the book missed the boat by not focusing enough on the more subtle breed of assholism in the workplace that leaves staff feeling unmotivated, generally disrespected and not making strong enough connections between that and the bottom line.

The bigg More...

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Sep 16, 2011

Angie rated it:

The No Asshole Rule: Building a Civilized Workplace and Surviving One That Isn't is basically just chapter after chapter of why not to hire assholes. Yeah, kinda figured that out myself. I would have appreciated more guidance on how to change the culture at your worksite so that isn’t tolerated beyond just citing the studies and case studies of where it has been implemented. I find it incredibly difficult to move from a culture of “At least he/she turns in the work on time” to “we won’t tolerate More...

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Aug 11, 2011

Erin added it

This is an anecdote-heavy business journal article that was obviously stretched to make it into a book. Good concept - assholes are more almost always more destructive than they are productive. I was hoping to read more and better strategies for dealing ("surviving") with jerks. Instead, there was a lot of information, stories, studies, and surveys that explained why assholes aren't good for the bottom line. One of the best parts is that Sutton challenges the reader to examine hon More...

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Mar 06, 2011

Andrea rated it:

Ok, sorry to be such a a-hole but I didn't like this book one bit. First, I tend to loathe self-help books (which this one morphed into, sadly). Second, I tend to dislike authors who go on-and-on about all the amazing things they've written over time (which this one did.. harvard review... blah, blah, blah...). Third (and amazingly), I just couldn't relate to the book. Sure.. I've had asshole bosses and co-workers before but thankfully now, I have a job that I don't regret spending 8-hrs away More...

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Apr 16, 2009

Alicia rated it:

Life is too short to work with assholes. Most of us would agree with this. The ones who don't...are probably assholes.

Robert Sutton addresses the problem of working with people who make life difficult, painful, and/or unpleasant by their words and actions toward those of equal or lesser status in the workplace. He first defines then expounds with examples and A LOT of statistics and data backing it up, which is nice to know but boring reading. The book goes on to list survival me More...

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Aug 11, 2011

Xiaomin rated it:

This is a pretty nice book if you wanna understand the phenomenon of bullying in all places. And it provides useful tactics to survive one unscathed. However, what's missing is why people become assholes: it's an addiction that need to be treated. Since it's impossible to change other people's behaviors, the best way is to avoid them: don't even start or get out ASAP before the invest-too-much-to-quit syndrom kicks in. And if you have to endure assholes, the important thing is to tune out as muc More...

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Mar 23, 2010

Sara rated it:

If you are having trouble with assholes at work and you feel all alone then this book might give you some tips on how to get through the day and make you feel a little more warm and fuzzy. However, I think it ultimately fails to accomplish its overall goal which is to encourage the implementation of the "No Asshole Rule" in order to make the world a better place. The people that are inclined to read this book are in no power to actually make changes in an organization. So while I think More...

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Jan 11, 2009

Michael rated it:

I had pretty high hopes for this book. It had a snappy title, some credibility in today's Google-Mac-World and sure took on an important topic. I reckon had I been on the wrong end of bullying in my career, I might have enjoyed it more.

I just couldn't help at the end of the book but think that in the space given, more could have been done than create the fluffy rhetoric and 'filler' around the books noble key points.

Now that we are in a serious economic downturn, I thin More...

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Dec 04, 2007

Simone rated it:

This book teaches you how to have an a@!hole free world and thats the way i want it to be!

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Mar 06, 2011

Brian rated it:

This book is perfect for anyone that is building or is in a workplace that continually has problems with "assholes". Just to make it clear to anyone reading this review - this was a recommended read :)

When reading the book I felt like I was being thrown statistics of "assholes" and the percentages of how they impacted the company's workforce and productivity but after finishing the book - those statistics were necessary to prove the book's main point - "asshole More...

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